Author Note: Okay – so I said I was not going to do another Jackie/Eric story because I had simply ran out of plots and ideas and then I got sidetracked on my other story so….I was reading some of my old stuff and all of a sudden this weird crazy storyline popped into my head and before you know it I had 20 pages written so…if this seems weird and out of character, well….enjoy! I don't know when I'll get another brainstorm again.

Almost a Kiss

Chapter 01 – Inviting the Devil

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"I don't know...it would just be too weird and freaky."

Eric replied, "Oh, you mean like us? Friends of friends…my enemy?"

Begrudgingly, Jackie smiled. "Yes. I can't go to a Halloween party with my ex-boyfriend and other ex-boyfriend's best friend. Besides, what would your girlfriend think?"

Eric tapped a finger against his chin. "Ah...yes...what would my ex-girlfriend think of me taking the town witch - I'm sorry goblin, because you're so short...taking the enemy to a Ladies Of Point Place sponsored Halloween Masquerade Ball because my mommy said if I didn't, I wouldn't get protein in my dinner for the next three months and you are the only available troll I can think of."

Jackie frowned. How did Eric Forman know she was dateless and didn't get an invite to the LOPP party? Kitty Forman got one every year. Did she have to be old to get one? This was THE party not to be missed at least for this year. Jackie felt like stomping her foot and whining but that really wouldn't help anything. Instead, she calmly and assertively replied, "You can be my date but we are going as dance partners. I don't want to end up doing the waltz with some fat divorced Point Place banker or some pimply faced nephew of the ladies club. You will be...acceptable."

Eric frowned. Acceptable? What the hell was acceptable all about? "Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

Jackie tossed her hair over her shoulder, "Whatever...I have to go to the Mall and look for a costume. I'm assuming you'll be going as something Star Wars? Let me say I am NOT going as Princess Leia so get that out of your head immediately." With that said, Jackie walked with a spring in her step up the basement stairs and out of sight.

Eric collapsed on the comfy yellow loveseat. Why did it feel like he'd just run a marathon? Acceptable? He was Eric Forman- he was more than acceptable! Maybe he should have asked Big Rhonda - everyone knew she was single.

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Jackie sat in front of her 100 watt light-up makeup mirror and dotted some beige foundation under her eyes. Imagine Eric Forman inviting her to a party. Sheesh, she was so much better than a LOPP party but crap, if she wasn't there then that might be bad for her reputation! How was she supposed to sell Tupperware, Princess House Crystal and Avon if she didn't go where the customers were? Those rich old biddies at the Ladies of Point Place were some of her best clients. Besides, if she sold another $200 she would get the Princess House Etched Hostess Gift Serving Tray. It was just beautiful and she could use it in her dream home while she served finger sandwiches and green olives.

The Tupperware was a fluke - probably something she inherited while living with Donna and Bob or eating leftovers with Kitty Forman. When Jackie got her first catalogue she was intrigued...then when she had her first party and saw all the money homemakers willingly spent on a bunch of plastic bowls...Jackie Burkhart had found her niche. Cheese Maiden no more! This time she was selling a product that helped make a kitchen functional, a living room beautiful and cosmetics to make ugly women to feel gorgeous.

She was a saleslady and she was good at it!

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Eric slammed the car door shut and trudged up the flagstone path to Sheldon Guyver's house. The little fifth grade terror needed a tutor in History and Mr. Guyver's pockets were deep. When Eric helped Sheldon's standing "D" move up to a "C", Eric got a $100 bonus on the side. When Guyver's golf buddies found out that Eric Forman, son of the infamous grouch Red Forman, was a splendid tutor - the job became a full time and weekend position. Eric was once asked about why he didn't become a full fledged teacher and he replied that tutoring gave him the opportunity to work his own hours and be his own boss. He didn't want to add that a lot of it was "under the table" cash and that was being used to save for his own Star Wars themed memorabilia shop.

Sidestepping that trip to Africa was the smartest move he'd ever made in his non-career. Needless to say, Donna thought he was leaving and gave him a special "goodbye" gift many times over and his mom cried while Red gave him a coveted pocket knife. Yet when he started to board the plane, it was like old Ben Kenobi was telling him, "The Force is not strong with this plane...boy." Eric opted out and asked for a later flight. Later, he'd heard from an acquaintance that the group he was supposed to have gone with was missing…supposedly somewhere in the hills by the Table Mountain National Park near Cape Town South Africa. The plane was later found but there were no survivors.

Eric was home the next morning with a "Hello dumbass...didn't think you'd make it." and the wonderful "My baby's home!" Donna was pissed because she had put off college too long and headed for Madison the next day. Since then, they had declared themselves forever friends "only" because a relationship was a really bad idea. That was something Eric could live with - Donna as friend, but never without Donna in his life.

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A goblin? He called her a goblin? What nerve! She was going to be Glenda the Good Witch. Glenda who appeared to Dorothy after the Kansas house landed on the Wicked Neighbor of the East - Erica Forman! He would look so pretty with ruby red slippers! Jackie slid the straps of her oversize turquoise Tupperware tote bag over her left shoulder and shut the door of her Mustang with her foot while slipping the keys into her purse. Ruby slippers...Eric's big feet in a pair of bright red ruby slippers….she almost laughed out loud but Nancy Baker was having a HUGE bridal shower and this was Jackie's show - she needed to get her head in the selling game.

One by one the drunken party girls were passing out on any available empty pieces of furniture. Meanwhile, Jackie was in Nancy Baker's kitchen tallying up her sales for that party. At the end of the night she had cash, checks, a money order and someone even left her a tip! Humming an ABBA tune, she folded the sales monies in half and tucked the bills into her wallet, "...If you need me, let me know, gonna be around...If you've got no place to go..."

She looked over to see Nancy clutching her stomach and the trashcan. "I'll just let myself out...great party!" Jackie had no desire to see what Nancy was going to spew in the garbage so she quickly grabbed her party bag and made a mad dash for the front door.

She stood on the top stoop and looked out at the twinkling stars in the cloudless sky. It was a little brisk but she took a deep breath and slowly released it. She was 20 (almost 21) and on top of her game. She was the youngest sales rep for all three of her companies in the lower Wisconsin territories and she was almost living her dream. It felt good to be young and beautiful and have oodles of money in her bank account. (No thanks mom or dad!) She smiled at her gently used Mustang and couldn't wait to get back to her miniscule apartment.

Life was good.

Love was on the back burner

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Eric left Sheldon's house and looked at the next address in his appointment book. Man, it was cool to be so busy that he had to have a book just for appointments! Wait! He should have a secretary to keep track of his appointments...was Donna too busy to...yeah of course she was but damn, but it was a good idea!

His 7:00 o'clock Geometry student was a gymnastic star at her middle school. She may have been a wonderful athlete but she was horrible in figuring out triangles and dimensions. The fact that her mother was a rich divorcee wasn't lost on Eric Forman. The fact that Allison Brock lived in the richest neighborhood of Point Place was only good for his business!

He signaled a left turn as the green light turned yellow and maybe if he timed it right he could scoot right through the intersection. BLAM! KABOOM! SCREECH! The Vista Cruiser sideswiped a dark blue Mustang and his poor car spun out in the middle of the streets coming to a halt on the sidewalk mere millimeters from a fire hydrant.

Eric rested his forehead on the steering wheel thinking "Stupid stupid stupid!" From the corner of his eye he could see the driver of the other car coming towards him but the glaring headache made his vision hazy.

Hands were slapping on the window and someone was shouting. The windshield was filling up with the outline of strangers that came to gawk or help, he couldn't figure it out. Someone opened the door and the next thing he knew he had fallen out of the driver's seat and was lying on the ground looking up into a pair of very angry jewel colored eyes.

"You hit my car!" Jackie exclaimed before she kicked his leg.

What hurt worse – his head or his leg where Jackie Burkhart kicked him?

"Go away you gremlin." He muttered pathetically.

She crouched down and moved his hair from his forehead. "Yep, you got a big goose egg on your head. You want me to call an ambulance?"

Eric closed his eyes as her voice grated across his nerves. "No. Just...go away."

She poked him in the shoulder, "I sure hope your insurance covers the body work it's going to take to fix my car. You DO have insurance don't you?"

Eric rose up on his elbows with one shaky hand holding his head. "Yeah, I think. Dad always took care of that before I..." Did he have car insurance? Shit! When did he ever make a payment? Jackie was going to cost him a fortune!

A black pair of crinkly leather boots moved to the front of his car where he clipped the Mustang. Eric could her Jackie making clucking sounds with her tongue. "Your car is really messed up Eric."

Was she saying that to him or for the sake of the crowd?

Somewhere in the background he could hear sirens and prayed it was only an ambulance and not the police. He really didn't want to have to confront Red Forman with a police report and a wrecked up car!

Some sweet old woman came forward with a wet cloth, "Here you go dearie. I don't see any blood but you might want to have a doctor look at that bump on your noggin." Eric gratefully took the cool rag and pressed it against his now painfully throbbing forehead.

In the background amid the wailing siren he could hear Jackie's shrill voice doing inventory damage out loud. "...and a headlight and…look at that! My tire is going flat! Add that to your bill Eric Forman. Scratches! Ugly brown scratches on my door! How could you..."

Then Eric passed out cold.

Jusr as suddenly, he was wide awake as a paramedic waved a small capsule of ammonia under his nose. "Son, you might want to get x-rayed." The kindly EMT advised.

Eric struggled to a sitting position. "My mom's a nurse."

A strong beam of light was pointed in his eyes as he was instructed to follow the light as it moved in a cross motion. The moving of his head made him feel slightly nauseous. The paramedic declared that Eric most likely had a concussion.

Jackie walked over to the back end of the ambulance and handed Eric a piece of paper. "This is some of the damages I CAN see but I won't have all the details until it's in the shop and then of course all of it will have to be painted."

Eric flailed the paper thinking he was too eager to disregard calling the cops, "Shouldn't there be a police report?" Jackie's list was a crime!

Jackie folded her arms across her chest. "Are you implying that you running a red light was MY fault?"

"No...no it's not that...it's just well, look at my car!" He replied miserably.

The wretched looking Vista Cruiser had its own broken headlight and the front bumper was hanging down like a sad smile. The right front end was accordioned and there was blue paint transfer on the side where the two cars met. Jackie was tapping her foot. "If you want me to call the cops I can. I mean I have to call a tow truck because I can't DRIVE to my apartment in this condition."

He waved a hand. "Just shoot me. Red's gonna kill me anyways. Just put me out of my misery with a gun instead of your vicious verbal bullets."

She bit her lip. "I don't' have a gun so you're out of luck. Anyhow, do you want a ride home? It's on my way."

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Red wiped his face twice and his foot was shaking. The tow truck driver had dropped the wounded Vista Cruiser in the Forman driveway and left after demanding a hundred bucks. Luckily for Eric, he was able to write a check before his mom whisked him into the kitchen for damage control. It wouldn't be of any use to yell at the boy now because he was out of sorts but in a couple of hours and a couple of Tylenol's later...there was going to be some ass kicking!

"Oh Eric, you are so lucky that it was Jackie that you ran into and not some big truck or fire engine! I've seen accident patients that got ejected through the windshields and well...it's just not pretty."

Kitty wrapped a bag of frozen peas into a dish cloth and held it against her son's head. "How fast were you going dear?"

"I was just starting to make a left turn...maybe five miles an hour? I swear I didn't see her car - it was dark and the Mustang was that blue color..."

Kitty tsk-tsked and shook a couple of ibuprophen into his palm and put a glass of water in his other hand. "Drink up dear. It will help a lot."

"Don't I need to go to the hospital?" Please say no!

She replied. "I'll keep an eye on you and if I see blood coming out of your ears..ahahahaha… we'll take you right away. But for now, just go get comfortable in the living room and don't go to sleep."

Eric rose on shaky legs and started for the door when Kitty asked, "If you got this hurt, what happened to Jackie?"

He stopped. "I don't know. I didn't even ask."

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